I need composting help!

[gtaus]

Oh and besides the green and the brown and the black I also put in my kitchen vegetable scraps (peels etc). I realize this could be a problem with pests coming around so we built 2 special bins with covers and sides that allow some ventilation...hardest part is turning it over so things dont get nasty & mushy---lets see how they turn out--- so far (3-4 months) it looks good. Good luck to you!

I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. I just throw all the kitchen scraps and leftovers into the chicken run in the morning. The chickens eat just about everything, and what they don't eat, usually gets scratched under the top layers of the chicken run compost. Where I live, I have never had any problems with pests, mainly due to the fact that all the scraps and leftovers are eaten by the chickens and there is nothing left for any pests to find in the chicken run.

The chickens love to scratch and peck in the chicken run compost, constantly turning it, all day, every day, so I never have to do any turning myself. When I need some fresh compost for the gardens, I will grab the pitchfork and harvest however much I want. Chickens and composting are a natural pairing.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. I just throw all the kitchen scraps and leftovers into the chicken run in the morning. The chickens eat just about everything, and what they don't eat, usually gets scratched under the top layers of the chicken run compost. Where I live, I have never had any problems with pests, mainly due to the fact that all the scraps and leftovers are eaten by the chickens and there is nothing left for any pests to find in the chicken run.

The chickens love to scratch and peck in the chicken run compost, constantly turning it, all day, every day, so I never have to do any turning myself. When I need some fresh compost for the gardens, I will grab the pitchfork and harvest however much I want. Chickens and composting are a natural pairing.

I wish this were an option for me. We’ve only got ducks (I’m not a chicken fan) and they don’t scratch, they basically just compact.

 

[gtaus]

I wish this were an option for me. We’ve only got ducks (I’m not a chicken fan) and they don’t scratch, they basically just compact.

I have raised both ducks and geese in years gone by. Ducks and geese are certainly good at spreading fertilizer all over the yard, the walkway, the front porch, etc....

But, yes, chickens are much better at making compost for the garden with their natural way of scratching and pecking.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

I have raised both ducks and geese in years gone by. Ducks and geese are certainly good at spreading fertilizer all over the yard, the walkway, the front porch, etc....

But, yes, chickens are much better at making compost for the garden with their natural way of scratching and pecking.

Oh yea they sure are good fertilizers. Unfortunately they love to fertilize my patio and driveway more than anything

 

[LaylaJane]

View attachment 3024888
Hello all! I’m needing some composting help. I’ve been “composting” for 2 years and still can’t seem to get the hang of it. I really don’t know what I’m doing even though I’ve bought and read a book on it.

Today I got out to start cleaning up the garden. As you can see in my pic of I have 2 piles of leaves and then a pile of old tomato and pepper plants (I still have corn stalks I need to rip out). I also have probably 3 huge wagon fulls of duck bedding (pine shavings). I have those 2 composting bins to use that you can see in the pic. What can I do with all this?? I need green stuff in it right? What would be good to add? I need all the help and advice I can get!

Not sure how helpful this is, but I keep a birder feeder or 2 on hooks smack in the middle of mine... when the birds drop seed, they sprout in the compost and become compost. To each new bed, I'll add either redworms or nightcrawlers, whichever I find under the leaves I've raked up this spring. (LOL I'm about to run out in the rain to get a pic for ya!) The cinder block bed is asthetic for me, as the sunflowers will come up and I'll have tons of blooms and the finches will come, it is last years pallet composter pile, the pallet composter is where all of everything goes till I move it for next spring. I have a mantis, so it's easy to just set it in to aerate every now n then. Next spring I'll just pitch 3/4 of it on my garden, till n poof. LOL maybe I'm doing it all wrong, but it is working for me. I think that is what makes the diference, no ones will be the same.

 

[NatJ]

LOL maybe I'm doing it all wrong, but it is working for me. I think that is what makes the diference, no ones will be the same.

If it works for you, then it's not wrong. There seem to be lots of "right" ways that work for different people.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

Not sure how helpful this is, but I keep a birder feeder or 2 on hooks smack in the middle of mine... when the birds drop seed, they sprout in the compost and become compost. To each new bed, I'll add either redworms or nightcrawlers, whichever I find under the leaves I've raked up this spring. (LOL I'm about to run out in the rain to get a pic for ya!) The cinder block bed is asthetic for me, as the sunflowers will come up and I'll have tons of blooms and the finches will come, it is last years pallet composter pile, the pallet composter is where all of everything goes till I move it for next spring. I have a mantis, so it's easy to just set it in to aerate every now n then. Next spring I'll just pitch 3/4 of it on my garden, till n poof. LOL maybe I'm doing it all wrong, but it is working for me. I think that is what makes the diference, no ones will be the same.

This is great, thank you!

 

[muddstopper]

Since this thread was brought to the top, I wanted to add my 2cents. I do everything in the slow add to the pile as you go mode. In the fall when gardening is done, I rip out all the plants and just dump in a pile in the corner of the yard. When leaves fall, I use my mower to direct its discharge in the direction of the pile. When I get a big enough pile of chopped leaves, I just rake them into the compost pile. I use the fine wood chips in my chicken coop to absorb the poop. I just dump a bale or two inside when things start to look nasty and then throw in a handfull of feed and the birds spread the chips for me. After two or three refreshing of the chips, I wait until it needs more added and use a rake and shovel to remove down to the dirt and start over with new chips. I throw the poop laden chips on top of my compost pile. The rain makes it wet. When I need compost, I dig down to the bottom of the pile and gather the good stuff for the garden. I dont bother with turning the pile, what ever turing it gets is from me digging down to get to the bottom of the pile.

I have never heard of chip drop, but I used to get free chips from the local power company. I have gotten as much as 200 dump loads at a time. Thats a big pile. I would take my tractor and roll the pile when ever the mood struck me. The wood chips where mostly 'Ramail in size and contain all the bark and leaves of the trees being chipped. Plenty of brown and green material. I found they broke down in about a year enough to provide a usable mulch. worked great to mulch around my trees and lanscape. I would till and plant my garden and once established I would use the wood chips as a mulch, pileing it high around the plants and even filling in the lanes between the rows, Worked great keeping down weed pressure and kept the soil moist underneath. Also since the mulch isnt buried in the soil, it doesnt rob nitrogen from the growing garden. Once the garden was done for the year, I would till all the mulch into the soil, this way it had the entire winter to breakdown and turn into actual soil. I would occassionally find a stick or something left over simple because it was to large to break down in one year, but mostly, it just disappeared in the dirt.

Being a man, an old one at that, I have to pee often. Since I have a build in sprayer, I dont bother with catching my pee, I just apply it fresh directly to the plants or to the compost pile. I aim for the base and around the plants, never directly on the plants. I cant say it does or doesnt help.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

Since this thread was brought to the top, I wanted to add my 2cents. I do everything in the slow add to the pile as you go mode. In the fall when gardening is done, I rip out all the plants and just dump in a pile in the corner of the yard. When leaves fall, I use my mower to direct its discharge in the direction of the pile. When I get a big enough pile of chopped leaves, I just rake them into the compost pile. I use the fine wood chips in my chicken coop to absorb the poop. I just dump a bale or two inside when things start to look nasty and then throw in a handfull of feed and the birds spread the chips for me. After two or three refreshing of the chips, I wait until it needs more added and use a rake and shovel to remove down to the dirt and start over with new chips. I throw the poop laden chips on top of my compost pile. The rain makes it wet. When I need compost, I dig down to the bottom of the pile and gather the good stuff for the garden. I dont bother with turning the pile, what ever turing it gets is from me digging down to get to the bottom of the pile.

I have never heard of chip drop, but I used to get free chips from the local power company. I have gotten as much as 200 dump loads at a time. Thats a big pile. I would take my tractor and roll the pile when ever the mood struck me. The wood chips where mostly 'Ramail in size and contain all the bark and leaves of the trees being chipped. Plenty of brown and green material. I found they broke down in about a year enough to provide a usable mulch. worked great to mulch around my trees and lanscape. I would till and plant my garden and once established I would use the wood chips as a mulch, pileing it high around the plants and even filling in the lanes between the rows, Worked great keeping down weed pressure and kept the soil moist underneath. Also since the mulch isnt buried in the soil, it doesnt rob nitrogen from the growing garden. Once the garden was done for the year, I would till all the mulch into the soil, this way it had the entire winter to breakdown and turn into actual soil. I would occassionally find a stick or something left over simple because it was to large to break down in one year, but mostly, it just disappeared in the dirt.

Being a man, an old one at that, I have to pee often. Since I have a build in sprayer, I dont bother with catching my pee, I just apply it fresh directly to the plants or to the compost pile. I aim for the base and around the plants, never directly on the plants. I cant say it does or doesnt help.

Thanks for your 2 cents!

What you described is pretty much what I’ve been doing. I’ve just got a big pile in my garden that I haven’t been turning. I was thinking of spreading it all out when we till here in the next couple weeks. Is that a good idea or no?

 

[muddstopper]

Thanks for your 2 cents!

What you described is pretty much what I’ve been doing. I’ve just got a big pile in my garden that I haven’t been turning. I was thinking of spreading it all out when we till here in the next couple weeks. Is that a good idea or no?

again, just my opinion, I have no ideal what you have for compost or its state of decomposition. I will say, if the quality is in any doubt, I would just use it as a mulch and apply around my plants. Plow it in this fall once the harvest is over.

Let me just add, I dont like to till in any compost right before planting. I prefer the material has some time in the soil to feed the microbes. I have no problems tilling the compost in in the fall for next year and iI have no problem adding compost as a mulch around my plants